Boston United 1-3 Grimsby Reserves

Lincolnshire League

26th August 1933


At the end of the 1932/3 season the directors of Boston FC decided to wind up the club as they were not bringing in sufficient funds to make continuation of the Midland League side financially viable. It was proposed to keep football present in the town by running an amateur team in the Peterborough League. On the 3rd July a group of Boston FC supporters held a meeting to discuss an alternative proposal - to form a new club, to be called Boston United, that would take the place of Boston FC in the Midland League. There was enough support for the new proposal, so the new club was born and began playing in the summer of 1933. It was able to replace Boston FC in the Midland League and the Lincolnshire League, but was unable to get agreement from the FA in time to enter the FA Cup for the upcoming season. The new club also adopted both the Shodfriars Lane ground and the light blue strip of the old Boston side.

The first competitive match played by Boston United was a Lincolnshire League game against Grimsby Town Reserves. The Midland League consisted of just seventeen clubs, so a Lincolnshire League had been set up to provide additional games for the leading sides in the region - Grimsby and Lincoln City reserves along with Boston United, Scunthorpe and Gainsborough Trinity - to ensure they made full use of all the available dates during the season.

The first game was played in the height of summer with the temperature in the shade being close to 80°F. Three players in the United team had turned out the previous season for Boston FC, these being Cook, Blakey and Blackham. Amongst the newcomers were Bill Devlin - formerly with Liverpool and Huddersfield; Simmons - who had been with Scunthorpe and Frickley Colliery and had played brilliantly for the colliery side in a previous season's match against Boston; and George Pordham - a local player from Swineshead who was only included in the side as the first choice striker was on holiday. Pordham would finish the season as the club's leading scorer with 27 goals to his credit.

The match was just a few minutes old when an unusual event occurred - the referee was knocked unconscious when a powerful shot hit him on the back of the head. After receiving attention from both trainers he was soon able to resume. On 12 minutes Boston took the lead. BLESSED netted with a low drive after being picked out by Simmons from a free kick for handball. Boston's keeper Cook then received a head injury in a goalmouth scramble but continued after getting attention. On the half hour Grimsby equalised when MORALEE beat Cook with a ground shot. Cook was now having trouble with concussion following his head injury and had to leave the field. With no substitutions allowed then, Reg Blackham took his place in goal and Marshall dropped back to help out in midfield. In the second half Grimsby made the most of their extra man scoring twice through PONTING and T W ROGERS.

After the match Mr T. H. E. Enderby - the new Boston United chairman addressed the crowd. He said: "It is felt that this is the beginning of a new era in the annals of football in Boston. It has been my custom to move about amongst you on the popular side of the ground, particularly last season, and hear your various opinions. I assure you that we shall endeavour to avoid the criticism that I have heard levelled at the old directorate. Whether we shall be successful I cannot say, but we shall try to run this team so that it is a paying proposition. But the difference between this season and previous seasons is this; that this season the team does not belong to a limited liability company - it is your team."

Boston Utd: 1. Cook, 2. Langley, 3. Charles Blakey, 4. Frank Skull, 5. Buchanan, 6. Reg Blackham, 7. Blessed, 8. George Pordham, 9. Bill Devlin, 10. Billy Marshall, 11. Simmons.

Grimsby Reserves: 1. Tweedy, 2. Wright, 3. W. Rogers, 4. Dodsworth, 5. Hodgson, 6. Wattam, 7. Lewis, 8. Dyson, 9. Ponting, 10. Moralee, 11. T.W. Rogers.

Attendance: 1,544


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